In Review: Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper by Kim Harrison

Released: April 1, 2007
Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0061253096

One of five short stories in the collection, introduces us to Madison Avery. It's Prom and she's just figured out that she's been set up by her dad, her date is only there as a favor. So what's a girl to do, but leave with a handsome stranger of course.

But this stranger has a secret and a job, he's a reaper and Madison is his mark. In a clash between dark and light reapers Madison may have escaped with her life, but not her body.

The story is fairly quick paced, with a likable protagonist bumbling from one mistake to another. The entire Reaper would is very complex, with its light and dark, timekeepers, and amulets. The writing is not as clean as what's come to be expected from Kim Harrison, but it's a good glimpse into the world she's about to immerse the reader in, in the upcoming Once dead, twice shy.